Second Stage Uptown to Present World Premiere of Wildflower

Second Stage Uptown will present the world premiere of Lila Rose Kaplan’s Wildflower. The second production in the company's summer Uptown series will begin previews July 13, with opening set for July 27 at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The play will be directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

Wildflower features Nadia Bowers (Doubt, Metamorphoses), Ron Cephas Jones (Richard III, Our Lady of 121st St), Quincy Dunn-Baker (The Good Negro, Romeo and Juliet), Jake O’Connor (TV’s Fringe, Gossip Girl) and Renée Felice Smith (TV’s Gossip Girl) in the story of a woman and her troubled son as they look to escape their past in Crested Butte, a small town with its own share of secrets. During their travels they encounter a curious girl, a forest ranger and an ex-drag queen, with all five colliding in a summer of botany and sexual awakening. Wildflower explores the discovery of desire and its unexpected consequences.

Kaplan’s plays include Aquarium, Catching Flight, Chicken with Stars, and Wildflower. Her work has been seen and developed at Arena Stage, the Kennedy Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse and The Culture Project among others. She is currently the Shank Playwriting Fellow at Cornerstone Theatre Company in Los Angeles. Sardelli recently won the 2008 Joseph A. Callaway Award for excellence in stage direction for Second Stage Theatre Uptown’s production of Rajiv Joseph’s Animals Out of Paper.

Created as a program to help develop and provide exposure for the voices of a new generation of theater artists, Second Stage Theatre Uptown seeks to develop the skills of emerging playwrights, to provide early-career artists with the support of a major artistic institution, and to create new plays for the American Theatre. Each show has a limited rehearsal period and streamlined budget. The series has helped launch and advance the careers of up-and-coming playwrights, including Rajiv Joseph (Animals Out of Paper), Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Good Boys and True), Adam Bock (The Receptionist, The Drunken City) and Brooke Berman (Hunting and Gathering).

Wildflower has scenic design by Steven Kemp, costume design by Paloma Young, lighting design by Lap Chi Chu and sound design by Jill Duboff.